Is Having Certification to Teach ELLs One Way to Keep Your Job?

In Livermore, Calif., administrators say that having certification to teach ELLs is a credential that can help teachers to keep their jobs during layoffs in cases where teachers are tied in the amount of seniority they have, according to a March 5 article in The Independent (see 4th to last paragraph). The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District has sent preliminary layoff notices to 25 teachers in the mail. The final notification happens May 15.

Readers, are you finding this true in other school districts, that having certification to teach English-language learners is providing job security during these hard economic times?

Yes. Furthermore, my students, who were doing their internship this past year, reported back that their principals and assistant principals were hiring based on their classroom teachers' recommendation. One of the things they were looking at was their ability to work with ELLs and their portfolio of materials they had developed while taking my TESL courses.

No. In Florida, most teachers are "Endorsed" to teach ELL students -- that means they have had inservice courses or college courses, and have an ESOL Endorsement added to their professional teaching certification. The fact that the vast majority of teachers do have their ESOL Endorsement means that being able --- on paper! -- to work with ELLs is NOT a good or useful way in Florida to have job security as a teacher.

Why would any teacher teaching ESOL not have certification? Oh yeah! Most states don't even have certification! If the parents could vote, they would have more say. Who would ever expect a special education to only have and endorsement?